Christmas Geranium Dresses

If you read sewing blogs, chances are you've seen Made By Rae (or at least heard of her excellent blog). I read several sewing blogs, most of which have projects for girls, so I'm pretty familiar with Rae's work and her most famous pattern, the Geranium Dress. I've seen many a blogger sew up a Geranium top or dress from this super versatile pattern and I decided it was my turn to test it out for the girl's Christmas dresses.

I downloaded the pdf pattern (though you can also order a paper version) and made a size 4T for Charlotte and size 3-6 months for Elise. The sizing is spot on--these both fit really well, no adjustments needed. I made the faux cap sleeve version for Charlotte out of some soft cotton/flannel plaid I had left over from yardage I bought last year. For Elise, I made the sleeveless version out of a large print red gingham using fabric from a curtain I had made years ago and no longer used. Repurposing=excellent.

This a super quick and simple pattern and with so many ways to change it up it will surely be in heavy rotation!

If you want to see tons of samples of what you can do with the Geranium dress pattern, check out Craftiness Is Not Optional  for tons of inspiration! She's made dozens over the years.

Happy Sewing!

~Stacy

Christmas Dress

Despite my sewing drought that's been going on for a couple months now, I did manage to make something special: a Christmas dress for my girl. I feel like I've sewn with only Oliver + S patterns lately, but I guess that's a testament to how much I love them. The pattern I used was the Birthday Party Dress. Though I'm happy with the end result, this was not my favorite O+S pattern to date. The construction of the dress was a little confusing (overcomplicated?) and I'm not wild about how the pleats came together. It was certainly not a bad pattern, just probably not one I'd recommend after sewing with several others of theirs.

Here's the pattern:

The fabric is the red version that you may recognize from this post, part of the Avalon line by Fig Tree Quilts. I adore this line--it has so many different colors and they all seem to go together without being too matchy. I bought this fabric over the summer and have been hoarding it ever since :)

I decided not to use my model for this photo shoot since I reallllly want to avoid the chance that the dress could get stained (or for that matter, wrinkled, since this thing was a pain to iron. Those pleats...). So you'll have to imagine, and I'll try to remember to post pictures when she actually wears it.

The chances that I'll sew anything between now and Christmas is slim, so I wish you all a very Merry Christmas! I'll see you again in the New Year with more fun projects :)

Christmas Fun

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! We sure did, especially since it was spread out over three days. We decided that the best way to tackle all the present opening and celebrations with a little one was to break it up into smaller events so she wouldn't lose her mind (and so we wouldn't either :)). So grab a cup of coffee and get comfortable; this is a long one!

On the 23rd we set out all of her presents from her Grandma C. and Aunt C. who live in Maine. We video chatted with them in the morning so they could watch Charlotte open everything, which Charlotte loved because she can "talk" to their cats.

The highlights? A "choo choo" and a snazzy pair of sneakers. The girl loves shoes. I have no idea where she gets that...

Christmas Eve was just the three of us. We let Charlotte open her presents from us and we spent the rest of the day hanging out with her and playing in the snow. She loves her kitchen! I set it up in the dining room so she can "cook" whenever we're in there or the real kitchen. She also loves her new stuffed Elmo (aka "Melmo") and her very first sled. Here's a look at how Christmas Eve went down:

And finally, Christmas Day. We had my parents and brother & sister-in-law over earlier in the day and the rest of the family came over later. Charlotte got another shipment of goodies under the tree and was not disappointed...though I wonder if this morning she expected to open presents again, since that's pretty much been what we've been doing all week.

Right now we are watching the blizzard unfold and enjoying the fact that we have nowhere to be all week long. Now that's what I call a Merry Christmas!

~Stacy

May Your Days Be Merry and Bright...

We had a bit of a snowstorm a few days ago and the temperatures have been cold enough ever since that most of the snow stuck around. It wasn't much, but enough to cover the ground and make a small snowman. As I sat down to write this though I noticed that it just started snowing again, which means we will have our first white Christmas in awhile!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a new year full of peace, good health, and happiness.

~Stacy

Christmas Part One

On Saturday we went to our first Christmas party of the season. Every year my Grandma hosts a party at her house for the entire family, and this year it was a little earlier than usual since some of the family had traveled in from Wyoming. It was great to see everyone again, eat (a lot) of delicious food, and also celebrate my cousin's graduation from college. Yep, my little cousin graduated college. How did that happen? Wasn't it just last week that I was eight years old and holding him in the hospital shortly after he was born? That's what I thought...

She's at a point where she gets excited when she sees presents but she's just as happy to give them to someone else as she is to open them. I like that :)

This week is full of more baking, cooking, eating, and getting together with friends and family. I always enjoy this time of year but the events of last Friday have definitely cast a shadow over everything. If you're reading this, you're having a good day. I don't care if your boss is a jerk, or you have the flu, or your co-worker is nasty, or if your credit card debt is high. Maybe your kids are acting out or you have to deal with airports during Christmas or you got a really crappy haircut or you had to sit in traffic for a long time on your way home from work. Whatever it is, it really doesn't matter. Take a second and be thankful that you are lucky enough that whatever is going on in your life is not so bad as what those parents and families are going through in Newtown. For at least one day, I call a moratorium on complaining. Because really, we have it pretty darn good.


~Stacy

Gingerbread Lane

If you live in the Northeast Ohio area and are looking for something Christmas-y to do before the day is here, you should check out Gingerbread Lane at Great Northern Mall! Gingerbread Lane is an annual event hosted by a wonderful organization called Welcome House. Welcome House is a non-profit agency that operates group homes for adults with developmental disabilities. They have been serving Cuyahoga County for the past 40 years, and every year a bunch of local bakeries donate a fabulous gingerbread creation to display on behalf of Welcome House for an entire month before Christmas.

These can hardly be called simply "gingerbread houses." To me, a gingerbread house is four walls and a roof with some gumdrops and frosting, something you can buy in a kit at a craft store. Cute and festive, but not really display-in-public worthy. These houses (and villages, movie replicas, ice skating rinks, etc.) are elaborately decorated down to the finest detail, large in scale and quite impressive.

Let's take a tour:

This house was created by The Grateful Dog Bakery, located in North Ridgeville, OH. This bakery is the most unique of the list because all of their baked goods are for cats and dogs! They specialize in all-natural, homemade treats for the furry friends in your life.

This next gingerbread village was actually made and decorated by some of the clients who attend the Welcome House Community Center. The WHCC is a day program for adults with developmental disabilities.

Next up is a scene from one of my favorite holiday movies, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  This was made by Great Scott's Bakery & Deli in Rocky River, OH. Great Scott's makes some of the most delicious cupcakes you can find: my mom gave us a box of them right after I had Charlotte and it was definitely one of the finest gifts a person can give to a new mom. Also, the cupcakes are huge and they have really unique flavors (like chocolate with maple bacon frosting).

This one comes from Gingerbread Homes by Jon Thibo and Nick Fumic. You can check out their Facebook page here! These skilled gingerbread men (har har) also have an award-winning house on display at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens for their grand gingerbread display that is part of a huge holiday event called "Glow."

The guys at Gingerbread Homes were very busy this season, since they also made this next A Christmas Story inspired house (they even included the leg lamp!):

Fligner's Market in Lorain, OH is behind this next creation. Fligner's is one of the largest locations on this list, with a full-service deli and bakery (along with any catering option you could wish for!):

And last but certainly not least, here's one from Colozza's Bakery in Parma, OH. Specializing in cakes and cannolis, you can't go wrong at Colozza's!

To check out all of these displays, along with several others that aren't included here, visit Great Northern Mall  now thru December 24th. Hours are Monday-Saturday 10AM to 9PM and Sundays from 11AM to 6PM.

~Stacy